Retirees Grappling with Post-FI Life

“You are fine. $20m is plenty. If shit hits the fan cut back to $400k spend or sell a toy. You are good to go!”

“Congrats (and GFY). Here's my tip, don't retire on the last of the month, retire on the first of the month as typically you get the full month of Healthcare from you employer the month you retire.”

“I've picked 12/31 as my last day and the notices are in. I like my coworkers, but I'm done with the industry. It gets more regulated and more exhausting every year, and grinding through it just to watch the number grow feels like the bigger mistake. The numbers: 55 / wife 52, high-stress jobs in healthcare. $20M liquid / invested equities $5M of commercial real estate with a $2.5M loan (decent rate structure -8 years left to pay off) VHCOL area, primary residence (1.8M with a cheap 450k”

“This is helpful thanks, will look for more wealthy friends to get referrals from 😉 But in all seriousness, living in the Bay area I know there are some lucrative investment opportunities given the right access. Between maximizing skill for the job and carrying for toddler, this is one thing that I want to outsource to someone qualified for existing assets (5M) while my stock options vest. I’ll look into the investment strategies/retail investor route and atleast get better at speaking the langu”

“Are you still feeling this way? Has anything changed in your perspective on staying content and finding new challenges? We are almost at 10M, I’m in my 30s and want to quit. I want to focus on myself and getting quality time with my kid. My husband will continue to work because that’s their priority right now. I used to very driven and a high achiever. I also have exceptionally high standards for the food we eat and parenting style. No screen time, park everyday, cook high quality meals etc. So”

“I love the fact you have other dad friends who have retired too… how do you find them?!? Most guys I know are basically working in finance or law”

Sure, if you don’t replace the mental workout with something else.

“With the reality of it coming and achieving the financial goals how did you transition to retirement and deal with the mentality and lifestyle change that came with it? submitted by /u/TheDyook [link] [comments]”

“You still have a 30+ life expectancy. There is no 25 year period in the past 150 years where real (after inflation) of the SP500 was less than 7%. I think you are over complicating things and should simply use 7% for equities returns and simply temper that number down appropriately based on your bond allocation. The best way to model the education expenses is to just separate them from your wealth, either by gifting it out of your estate directly to them (what we did), or simply moving them mone”

“You have plenty of money, it sounds like you're really more in shock over the layoff. You're real question seems to be "am I too young to retire? What will I do with my time of I'm not working?". I say take the time do to the layoff, collect unemployment, and try out the retirement lifestyle for 6 months. You can always rejoin the work force if you find you still want to work.”

“i left to caregive for my mom and then after she passed i decided to retire early. luckily i had been planning for a while but really got lucky w/the 2020-now markets. i still do tech but for fun now and people i know. i can't imagine what its like these days, i left IT corp world in 2020. however i wouldn't mind an easy helpdesk job for fun but man interviewing/applying for a job just sucks so i'll just enjoy my time and live my frugal life.”

“I don't enjoy dealing with anything investment related. It's just uneeded stress for me so I'm fine paying for it, esp. when my firm handles my taxes, estate planning, etc... as well which I'm obviously not going to do. When I fully retire perhaps I'll scale down the relationship or maybe convert to just an accountant, but for now this works”

“This won't make sense to most people, because to them 'retired' is a terminal state”

“I thought about this, and everyone is different- I'm good enough managing money that i can live within means, if means go down, lifestyle goes down. but (like in my previous example) if i have more means and no real need to save, shouldn't i enjoy it instead of saving due to fear (fear i'll run out of money in a hypothetical)? i'm able to retire now. i'm back to work- so each year i work, retirement grows more without me contributing (statistically) instead of me drawing on i”

“Hi everyone - TLDR. if you can live FatFire, how did you make the decision to continue/or not continue grinding? Sold my business to a PE-backed strategic. Walked away with more than I thought I'd ever need/want (~$25M). Building the business pre and post acquisition have been quite intense. It's been meaningfully less fun post acquisition. Feel much less present mentally during family time/weekends as it's always on my mind. We have young kids at home (2 under 4) and I need to make”

“Why would I care about my business acumen? I retired early to get away from all that crap. Whole point of FatFIRE is I don’t want to make money or convince other people of anything”

“How has no one else brought this up? He might be talking about risk-adjusted return. If you were in a mix of bonds/commodities/stocks and the part of the portfolio that is stocks overperformed you had a higher risk adjusted return. My advice is to advise against a financial advisor when you're young and recommend it when you're older. Now that you are nearing retirement would be the worst possible time to go 100% VOO.”

“Follow up from an earlier post contemplating retiring. Sharing latest numbers and learnings after pulling the trigger. Comments and advice welcome. Prior post: https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/s/T9uu3OBaOq Numbers: Thanks to a continued bull market, our wealth continued to grow. Net worth $9.2M liquid Taxable/Roth: $5M 401k/IRA: $3.7M 529: $475k No debt and $1.5M house all equity Income: wife still makes $400k/yr and is happy doing it for a while. Current Spend: $240k / yr w/o tax and medical in”

“There is absolutely no way I would consider spending 3 hours a day, five days a week, 48 weeks a year actively managing properties retired. If you no longer have earned income, what benefit is REPS to you?”

“Coming from someone w similar stats and FIRED already in 40s - if you think the challenge is interesting I’d say do it. But if this brings up burn out or requires sacrifice that might affect your loved ones or relationship with them - not might be worth it. Maybe a conversation with your partner. What do they think?”

“Sorry if a dumb question, but what’s that 80% of—his highest earning power? Or?”

Then that isn’t fat fire. It’s FI.

“Seven months ago you posted that you quit your job with $12.5m, saying "the tech grind had really gotten to [you]" and that your "plan is to decompress and de-stress and focus on the gym and hobbies" and that you were "single and considering traveling as well." What's changed?”

“2) six figure pension is based off if I retire now, but I can’t start collecting for a while. Pension isn’t going anywhere (knock on wood!) Awesome. 3) liquid stocks, SPY, etc. can liquidate any time (and pay LTCG of course) Then you don't have 900k liquid. You have 900k in stocks, presumably in a brokerage account. It's important to use the right terminology. If it's in invested in stocks, it's not liquid. Do you have an emergency fund (actually liquid)? If so, how many month of”

“The problem I’ve struggled with since retirement is finding the fire in the belly to really take on something like this. (Yeah, I did that on purpose.) I did it for two years (CFO in my case) and just couldn’t keep the grind going. I realized it was range anxiety and I’ve learned to live with the risk of possibly running out. It does help that my three houses are fully paid for and I have zero debt beyond next month’s credit card payment. Make sure you have the motivation to grind as hard as you”

“… has nothing to do with this post. OP hits the nail on the head “at what point is maximizing wealth no longer maximizing responsibility?” There is such a thing as diminishing marginal utility, and I don’t think easing your foot off the gas in terms of wealth maximization should be viewed as slamming on the breaks and putting generational wealth progression in reverse. What’s the point otherwise?”

“You haven't said what the opportunity cost is in practical terms. What are your goals for that (potential) 40? Setting up your kids for life? A yacht? Leaving it all to the local dog shelter? If you're so excited about this property, consider your goals against this and the incremental day to day lifestyle changes that the alternative would provide.”

“Um, how long have you been pursuing early retirement?”

“My best friend just retired at 57. He was able to do that because he took the earnings from his lucrative job and turned them into a cashflow producing machine. If you need to build something so desparately, do it on the side until it replaces your "lucrative job." You will thank yourself later.”

I tell people I'm just taking a "recess" vs retirement.

“I've been retired since I was 44, 54 now. I usually tell my "regular joe" acquaintances that are still working that I'm a "consultant". If they go beyond that, i just say business is slow. My close friends though know the truth. It's not much of a big deal for them as they are HNW and UHNW. They work because they want to and I just decided I was happy where I am with my mid-HNW life. We do still talk about business matters freely as supposed to my other batch of a”

“Definitely overthinking. Don't lie - someone will find out and you don't want to be known as a liar. If people shun you from being able to retire, congratulations you've removed toxic people from your life. The good ones will be happy for you no matter where they are. It took me a while to be comfortable with "what do you do" - you get used to it, I just answer "I'm retired". The first year you can say you're taking a break or a sabbatical, lots of people”

" I'm retired " works for me.

“Say you’re retired, that’s what I do. I initially tried to do the whole “consulting” thing, but no one really cares especially in a VHCOL tech locale where double incomes are absurd. Makes logical sense that you can retire.”

“Right? Especially since OP spent years working to get to that point. Inherited money can come with guilt but that’s not the case for OP.”

“Do not lie (like some advise here). Be proud of your retirement. You don’t need people in your life who won’t support you for who you are and the choices you’ve made. You retired to live a better, more authentic, and happier life, not to build a barricade of lies around yourself.”

“Embrace it! Say "I'm retired." <Silence>. Confidently. The only thing holding you back is ego. They are working, you are not. You win.”

“Thanks for your response. That said, I've been a long time follower of this sub and I would consider this a path to FatFIRE topic. I notice a lot of threads these days are people who are already FIREd. A lot of which are LARPers. An ever shrinking proportion are not and are incredibly valuable. Point being, when did it becomes only for fired vs pursuing fire. All the best.”

“OP: I am in a very similar boat. I now make nearly $2M/year due to stock appreciation but I am burnt out and don't want to climb the corp ladder anymore. I have enough to retire in theory but I really struggle with the identity change of walking away and becoming a SAHM. I worked really hard to build what we have and I worry that there may be no way back if I step away.”

“Dual Mil retired with VA compensation does have you in a position of FIRE. The guaranteed Cash Flow is what sets you apart, but the overall account size isn’t “FAT”. Most would choose your situation over theirs all day everyday. Sequence of returns risk isn’t really a thing. You can hunker down in most cases and live off the guaranteed income and see what your portfolio does with a nice bag a buttered popcorn. So while you’re not Traditionally Fat FIRE right now. You will be in the future.”

“Health insurance and long term care planning are critical. I have known people who lost all their wealth because they didn’t plan for these major potential expenses.”

“I’m 58 and have spent the last 16 years driving a commercial sanitation truck. When you work that kind of physical job, you don't have the stomach or the time to gamble your retirement on speculative hype or 50-slider screeners with DCF guesses. A few months back, I decided to test a no-nonsense filter on the SCHD universe and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats. I wanted to cut through the Wall Street noise and find companies that can survive a brutal recession without cutting their cash p”

“You are talking about getting a part time job and consulting, or did I misread that? That does not sound like volunteer work at an animal shelter. Anyway, enjoy retirement from corporate life but don’t get tempted to fill the void to make money you don’t need. And your spouse should quit now with such a low spend. Life in retirement is very different with one spouse still working full time.”

“I am sure there are healthy 80 year olds but what you can do at 80 vs 50 is significantly different. If you want to continue working when you don’t need to, have at it, but let’s not think that you will feel the same in 15 years as you do today. Life changes every 5 years past a certain age. I can almost guarantee you that you will feel different and will be less capable at 65 than you are today.”

“As you note, "buying back your time" advice works for someone still employed, but not so much for someone done that is retired and a flexible schedule. My wife and I instead think more along the lines of "buying joy" and "buying comfort" and "eliminating frictions and irritants".”

“This hits home with me. Similar situation. The way I see it is you won the game. Start playing a different game. Until up to age 50, still possible to rewire the brain. Start rethinking the game … build your foundation for next 50. Good luck..”

“Pretty much! I'd highly recommend reading the book, A Simple Path to Wealth and checking out The Money Guy Show on Youtube . Can you expand on what you mean by, "How the hell do they keep up with that" ?”

I would not recommend covered call funds in retirement

Veteran or Police, or both

surely there must be ongoing medical costs?

“You have a guaranteed income of 100K and no serious debt. Many people working don't have either that income or that debt. And if it's guarenteed, you don't have to worry about layoffs either. Not really sure why you're worried about a retirement account if you have guarenteed income for the rest of your life”

“Time for some therapy man. Take stock, be thankful you won, and enjoy time with your family to enrich their lives (not in a financial way)”

Right on

“You have a good point. I don't think I'd want to go back to the absolute grind of running a company, but something more off-hand with a lower time commitment could be good. Maybe join a couple boards, do some consulting work.”

“This actually hits the part I’m struggling with better than most of the “just quit, you have enough money” replies. It’s not really a math problem anymore; as noted, it is reprogramming. For decades, the answer has always been: keep going, solve the next problem, like a highly trained hamster in an ever-changing wheel. There was always another hill with a flag on top of it, as I see it. Then, the day we financially crossed the finish line, our brains apparently didn’t get the memo. However, as s”

“I think you are set financially. The reprogramming you are talking about is real tho, and it is related to the medical obstacle course. We arent used to quitting things, and have always had defined periods where things end like med school, residency, etc. I struggle with not just slugging through bc thats what we have always done. The office workers posting on here wont get it. Check out the subreddit overemployed if you want to see how many office type jobs go....someone on there is working 3 2”

“I was really happy the day our portfolio reached $10m for the first time. I expected to to feel like we had "won" but it's not like there are any cheering crowds. You're just sitting alone in front of your computer... winning? But I was an attorney - winning defined every aspect of how I got to where I am in life. It was the only currency I understood at the time, and it was the key I waiting for to unlock the door to all the unknowns that I wanted to come next. Years later, my”

“For OP or anyone, where did you guys find mentors on your journey to FIRE? Curious, unless it was just heads down work hard for most others.”

“Tell me about it. My second is starting college and the first halfway through. They did not choose cheap destinations. My burn rate for the next few years is going to be…remarkable. Less personal stress for me to cover it with salary.”